Internal combustion engine



Patented May 11, 1 943 2,31s,914 INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE John W. Anderson and William M. Nichols,

Auburn, N. Y., assgnors to American Locom'otive Company, New York; N. Y a. corporation of New York Application Jul 15, 1941, Serial No. 402,458

1 claim.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines, and more particularly to cylinder heads therfor.

'object of the present invention is to provide an 'improved cylinder head for 'an internal combustion engine, devised to direct air into the 'cylinder to efiect in the cylinder a downwardly directed whirling flow of air.

Referring to the drawing forming a 'part of this application, Figur 1 is a horizontal secti'on, taken on the line I- I of Fig. 2 of a portion of an internal combustion engine including the cylinder head of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line II-II of Fig. 1, parts being shown in full.

The internal combustion engine, indicated generally by the reference numeral l, which may be for instance a high power Diesel engine, includes a cylinder 2, cylinder head 3 covering the top of said cylinder, admission or inlet pipe 4. exhaust pipe 5, inlet valves 6 and exhaust valves 1.

The cylinder head has a front air inlet port 8 and a rear air inlet port 9 and two eXhaust ports I 0. The two inlet ports are disposed on the same side of a diameter of the cylinder over the top thereof, in a common admission passageway ll. The two exhau'st ports are disposed on the other side of the aforesaid diameter in a common exhaust passa'geway |2. The exhaust ports form no part of the present invention. An oriflce |3 for a fuel injector (not shown), is formed in the cylinder head over the center of the engine cylinder.

The present invention resides in the structural characteristics and the particular shape resulting therefrom, of the passageway ll to efiect the desired aforesaid downwardly directed whirling flow of air in the cylinder.

The passageway has a substantially rectangular opening or inlet !4 at its front end, similar to the adjacent end of pipe 4, of substantial width to allow the passage inward of a considerable Volume of air for mixture in the cylinder with fuel oil injected into the cylinder by the injector (not shown). The passageway further has a bottom wall !5, top wall !6, converging side walls ll and l8 and a rear wall |9 connecting the side walls. Ports 8 and 9 are disposed below the bottom wall !5 and are provided with surrounding walls 20 and 2| respectively, walls 20 and 2! extending upwardly from each of the ports and each having a curvature directed downwardly and rearwardly and being substantially circular in cross section. Wall 20 merges into walls |5 'and :8 'and wall 2! mer'ges 'iht walls H, `|`8 and 19, 'wall !8 extending inwardly fr'ofn the passageway open end to surrounding wall 20 at point c, being in effect substantially taiig''t to the port 8, and therefrom to surrounding Wall 2l at point d, and wall !7 extending inwardly from the passageway open end to si' rounding wall 2l at point e' substantially diametrically opposite point d; being in 'fict sub.- stantially tangent to th port 9; Portihs of walls 29 and 2| between the two-ports 8 and 9 are connected to form a guide and supporting wall 22 extending transversely across passageway ll. Walls 20, 2l and 22 form walls df the passageway.

Passageway H converges in a general horizontal direction from its front end toward the ports 8 and 9, and rear wall 19 curvesfrearwardly and downwardly from the top wall to the surrounding wall 2l, and curves transversely between the rear ends of the side walls. Side wall l'l is spaced from port 8 to permit a flow of air to pass one side of this port to port 9. t

A hollow wall 23 is disposed in the forward v portion of passageway l l between the' open end thereof and port 8, and intermediate walls IT and !8. The hollow interior of wall 23 'provides a cooling water passage. Wall 23 extends from the bottom wall to the top wall of passageway ll 'and has a face 24 opposite wall ll and a face 25 opposite wall l8. It divides the fiowing air in passageway ll into a stream a fiowing between wall |8 and face 25 and a stream b flowing between wall l'I and face 24, each of the streams being denoted in the drawing (Fig. 1) by two lines of arrows.

Port 8 is disposed so that at one point, indicated at f, substantially diametrically opposite the point c, its edge is substantially in line with (tangent to) the wall of cylinder 2, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. This port is also disposed directly in line with stream a. Port 9 is also disposed so that at one point, in line with point e, its edge is substantially in line with (tangent to) the wall of cylinder 2 and port 9 is directly in the path of stream b, port 9 being disposed to the rear of port 8.

Air fiowi ng into passageway Il through open end !4 is divided into streams a and b by Wall 23, as aforesaid, and stream a is directed toward port 8 by wall l8, and stream b is directed toward port 9 by wall Il. As is obvious from the foregoing, the walls of passageway l I and ports 8 and 9 are so disposed relative to each other and to the cylinder that the air, which is under pressure is admitted to the cylinder in a general tangential downward and rearward flow, the tangential direction through port 8 being indicated by the dot-dash arrow g, and through port 9 by the dotdash arrow h, causing the fiows to be deflected by the wall of the cylinder into a whirling movement around the cylinder wall.

Some of the air of stream a, i. e., the upper portion thereof, passes over and to the rear of port 8, as may be seen in Fig. 2', intermixng with stream b.

The downward whirling flow of the air after entering the cylinder is attributable to the general shapes and arrangement of the various walls of passageway II and of the two ports and of their directions relative to the cylinder wall, and mainly to the two iniet ports directing the flow downwardly and being tangent to the cylinder wall at points on the same side thereof, and to the wall l'l being tangent to the cylinder wall and to the port 9 at its point e of tangency to the cylinder and to the wall l8 being tangent to .the port 8 at its point c substantially diametricaily .opposite its point f of tangency to the cylinder,

Among the advantages gained by the downward and whirlng flow of air in the cylinder are better scavenging and better fuel and air mixing, resulting in improved combustion and more satisfactory performance of the engine.

While there has been hereinbefore described an approved embodiment of this invention, it will be understood that many and various changes and modifications in form, arrangement of parts and details of construction thereof may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and that all such changes and modifieations as fall within the scope of the appended claim are contemplated as a part of this invention.

The invention claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

An internal combustion engine comprising a cylinder; and a cylinder head therefor having a single air inlet passageway for said cylinder, said passageway having an open end spaced laterally from said cylinder and extending rearwardly to and across said cylinder at one side thereof and terminating in an opening providing an inlet port for said cylinder, said port, at a point thereo, bein adjacent the side wall of said cylinder, said passageway having a side wall tangent to said port substantially at said point, said passageway having another opening intermediate its ends providing another inlet port for said cylinder, said other port, at a point thereof, being adjacent said cylinder side wall and at a substantiaily diametrically opposite point being tangent to the opposite side wall of said passageway, said other port being spaced a substantial distance from said first mentioned passageway Wall.

JOHN W. ANDERSON. WILLIAM M. NICHOLS. 

